The History of First Generation DMUs
The Railcar website provides information on the British Railways first generation DMUs (a.k.a. diesel multiple units / railcars) introduced in the 1950s.
The content of this website
The six key sections of the website are:
- Types - looks at each type of DMU in detail
- Topics - features articles on different aspects of the vehicles and personal recollections
- Technology - describes the technical details of how they work
- Data - various lists of numerical details
- Images - galleries featuring DMUs
- In Print - details the books and other printed materials made available over the years that have relevance
Details of railcars in preservation can be found on The Railcar Association website.
Date on DMUs
Vehicle / Set Data
To view details of a particular vehicle or set enter the number below:
DMU Images Wanted!
Do you have photos of First Generation DMUs? The more images we have the better we can tell the DMU story and make it more useful to visitors. Images can be loaded directly onto the site - just register as a user and upload! Alternatively if you have images on flickr or another website I can do the uploads for you - just let me know.
Scope
This website contains details about the First Generation DMUs. This includes the 4-wheel diesel railbuses, ACV / BUT railcars, the Battery Multiple Unit (BMU) and Blue Pullmans. It covers the period from their introduction to British Railways in the 1950s till their withdrawal and disposal from main-line use, but NOT preservation.
Because of the vast amount of data that this covers and the amount of information I have still to process I cannot include the DEMUs introduced on the Southern Region in the same era, nor Second Generation or later types.
Updates
June 14th
Added is a BR booklet dated 1959 listing all the brakework items along with part and drawing numbers, for Gloucester built diesel railcars. Download PDF (15mb pdf). It coversthe 100s, 119s and 122s, but not the 128s.
June 7th
A new page has been added to the Class 104 section looking at their time on the North Eastern Region.
May 31st
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Norwich - Dereham - Wells; Machynlleth - Pwllheli; Whitby - Malton; Kilmarnock - Ayr; and Reading - Gatwick Airport.
May 24th
Some more fault finding documents have been added: Eastern Region, 1968 (3mb PDF); Scottish Region sheets from 1973 (0.6mb PDF) and circa late 1970s (0.6mb PDF); from unknown origins are a double-sided sheet from the 1980s (0.5mb PDF), and a sheet dealing with blown 6 & 7 fuses.
April 26th
Added is a BR booklet dated 1959 listing all the brakework items along with part and drawing numbers, for Craven built diesel railcars. Download PDF (11mb pdf).
April 19th
Some more operation/timetable pages have been started: Ely - March - Peterborough; Manchester - Llandudno; Leeds - Micklefield; Elgin - Keith Junction and Cairnie Junction; and Birmingham - Great Malvern.
Latest Images:
A Met-Camm twin in Northfield station circa early 1960s, likely on a Birmingham New Street - Redditch service. Stuart Mackay Collection.
A three-car Swindon Inter-City DMU runs through Princes Street Gardens on 6 October 1966. Stuart Mackay Collection.
M56344 heads a Met-Camm twin with a Park Royal twin on the rear at Mold Junction working the 10:33 Llandudno - Stoke service on 3 July 1982. The labels in the centre cab window seem to read 2M91. Stuart Mackay Collection.
Class 116 set C320 (presumably 53869 + 59035 + 53922) arriving at Cogan station with the 10:25 Barry Island - Rhymney service on 31 January 1987. Stuart Mackay Collection.
A two-car Class 118 DMU departs from Kingswear on 16 September 1971. Stuart Mackay Collection.
On This Day:
A Class 110 3-car set at Goose Hill Junction on 15 June 1983. Steve Davies Collection.
DMS W50105 leads a service bound for Birmingham Snow Hill at Bentley Heath Crossing (Dorridge) on 15 June 1961. Michael Mensing.
Two three-car Cravens sets arrive into Leicester London Road on 15 June 1963. Norman Thomas courtesy S V Blencowe collection.
An official image (6 of 18, negative W6691/17) from a internal BR photo album titled 'Refurbished Class 117/118 DMU Production'. It shows the gangway between 51345 + 59497 and the new exhaust arrangement circa mid-June 1977. British Rail.
A Class 116 DMU heads away from Solihull station in mid-June 1976. The DMBS is not carrying the usual Tyseley set number in the cab window but seems to be a recent transfer from further south judging by the remains of a set number under the drivers window and lack of destination blind and is presumably 50854. Michael Mensing.